Summer is winding down here in New England – and this has, admittedly, been one to remember. I finally finished grad school at Savannah College of Art & Design with a M.A. in Interactive Design and Game Development, and was honored to receive the 2010 Academic Achievement Award!

At the end of June I accepted a full-time position at the PETA Foundation as a Senior Designer. I have been a huge supporter of PETA for many, many years – and this job has essentially shaped up to be a dream fulfilled. Though, I was not necessarily looking to leave full-time freelancing for an in-house position – the opportunity was too good to pass up, and I could not possibly be more happy with my decision! I feel quite at home working with PETA, and I honestly don’t have enough good things to say about my new job!

And as if these happenings weren’t enough – I’m also extremely excited about getting on-board at Montserrat College of Art as Adjunct Faculty in the fall! Montserrat students produce amazingly-inspiring work – and I’m so eager to get into the classroom and see what my students are going to create. Stay-tuned, as I hope to have some awesome student work to share over the next few months!

To top it all off – I’m still doing a limited amount of freelance work as time allows. If you’re looking for help on your web project – please contact me for my availability.

I hope everyone has had a spectacular summer as well!

Spring has definitely hit here in New England – the trees have their leaves again, the temps are in the 70′s, and I even harvested my first radishes and lettuce from my vegetable garden! But the world being in bloom isn’t the only excitement around here – I’m also looking forward to finally finishing my Masters Degree in Interactive Design & Game Development from SCAD – and I’ll be walking across the stage on May 29th to get my degree. All the long nights, and lack of weekend fun for the past couple years have paid off!

Things are also busy here in the studio – I recently launched the new Freelance Whales site, a new splash page for Tokyo Police Club, and I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to work on the webstore for Team Radio Shack and  the webstore for Mellow Johnnys, Lance Armstrong’s bike shop in Austin, TX.  I’ll be updating the portfolio shortly with these, and some other tasty new interactive pieces.

In other news, I’m currently working on a program to start offering non-profits that are focused on animal welfare, animal rights, and animal rescue discounted web design services. These causes are extremely important to me and close to my heart – so I feel that this is a good way I can give back and put my skills to positive use. Stay tuned for more details on this program in the next couple months!

Like many of us – I admit that I’m relieved to have 2009 behind me. I feel extremely lucky that I fared the year keeping consistently busy – which I know is a rarity in this economy – but something about 2010 just feels good.

Since I last wrote (which was way too long ago) – my husband and I have relocated from Austin, TX back to Beverly, MA. Its really great to be back and close to old friends and family. And, though some may be surprised to hear – I couldn’t be happier about returning to the snow!

Work has been exciting since the move. I’ve gone from working in-house at C3 Presents to freelancing again full-time and it feels great! There’s tons of REALLY exciting projects that I’m involved in that I can’t wait to add to the portfolio. I was also very excited to learn that Monsterrat has a new Interactive Media program which I’m eager to see students’ work from! I’m also privileged to be speaking on a panel to Montserrats Interactive Media students and faculty on February 25th.

As November quickly approaches, I’ve decided to update my portfolio with a couple new projects that have wrapped up recently. The 11th annual Gran Prix of Gloucester took place on October 3 & 4 and this years poster has been added to my Illustration Gallery.

Also, just launched today is the new website for the band, Lucero. To coincide with their new album release “1372 Overton Park” on October 6th – the website underwent a design overhaul that went live today! Check out the preview in my Interactive Gallery.

Work has picked up significantly during 2009 – amidst taking on a full-time position at C3 Presents and still maintaining a steady amount of freelance design, development and illustration work. Grad school is on a summer break until September, so I’m working close with clients to wrap up a couple large projects in the works!

The portfolio has been updated with some new pieces – a couple to note are the new New Noise Santa Barbara site that was launched last week and the poster for the 1st annual Gran Prix of Beverly that takes place next week in Beverly, Massachusetts.